Alexa - 2 1/2

I have gotten so far behind in updating my blog, but wanted to put some pictures on that I took of Alexa.

So pretty!

I saw this outfit and just had to have it.. and she looks so pretty in it....

A New Blog

I have been thinking of starting a blog to put all of my cards and crafts and have finally decided to do it. It is called The Paper Gourmet. I will be posting cards and crafts that I make, including the information for making the card. Please come by and check it out.

The Holidays

The holidays this year were quite different for us. With having a family of 7 it can get quite costly to travel by air so in order to try to save and also for my husband to be able to visit his family in Guatemala, we decided to do things differently. He took all the boys and went to Guatemala, and I took the girls and went to visit family in Ohio. Spending the holidays apart was very difficult for us, and I doubt we will ever do it again, but the my husband and the boys came back with so many stories and so many pictures. Me and the girls also had a great time, but things were different being without them.

Here are some pictures they took on their trip. Now I can't wait for us to make this trip all together as a family. The boys really miss being there and tell me they would love to live there. Guess I really missed out. LOL!

Chocolaty Pomegranites

Today's SCS challenge was to make a card incorporating chocolate and since all I had was Chocolate Chip paper I decided to use this new stamp set by Flourishes and this is what I came up with. I just love this new stamp set, I can tell it will be one of my favorites.

This card is made using Chocolate Chip, Purely Pomegranite and Whisper White. I used Nestabilities for the circle and scalloped circle die cuts and also for the small scalloped tag. I also used the cuttlebug for the textured scallop strip under the ribbon and used paper piercing on the scallops and along the bottom.

Some new cards...

Here are a couple of cards I made for the challenges on SCS this week and wanted to post here.

This card was made using an acrylic stamp by Flourishes for the bg, and I stamped it onto Flourishes clear cardstock for my DP. I used Stampin Up cardstock Basic Black and Blush Blossom, and stamped the bird stamp using an acrylic stamp I purchased at Michaels.

This card was made using the SU Wanted stampset, and I stamped it onto very vanilla SU paper and sponged on the paper using So Saffron ink, covering all the paper lightly, and added Basic Brown on the edges, stamping over the whole panel with the weathered bg inked in Basic Brown. I used Martha Stewart ribbon and I am not sure where the corner accessories are from. I think it came out with a very cowgirly look.

It's a Nature World!!!

Friday morning we were getting ready for school and with five kids trying to get them all ready and out the door is somewhat of a challenge. It was time to get in the car, and I was doing last minute checks on backpacks, snacks, shoes, belts, faces, hair, etc. When I step outside to find my two younger boys checking out this tree frog that had not escaped their attention. We frequently find tree frogs here and they never tire of wanting to catch them, and I usually try to explain that the tree frogs will not live here if they are always bothering them, and that usually works to deter them from catching them, but this one wasn't so lucky, and in their effort to save him so they could play with him later, he died. They put him in a plastic container on the back porch and when they came home he was dead. I didn't think to see if they had actually put him there, but he didn't make it. So here are the pics I took of Jacob holding him. I thought he was kind of cute... LOL!

I'm Back!!!

I have been so busy since school started that it seems that my blog has been neglected. I have been wanting to update my blog but it seems that I haven't had time to set down and actually get it done.

This past weekend we had the priveledge of having my mom here to visit and I tried taking some pictures of her with the kids. Unfortunatly the little ones were not cooperating, and this is one of the best that I could get.

It Came Today!

A couple of weeks ago I entered the Back to School Giveaway at 5 Minutes for Mom. And to my great surprise and great happiness I won this camera from Ciao. I received it today in the mail and wanted to post a picture of it.

OUR BIG FLOWER?

We have decided to have our dog Linda spayed and so yesterday was the big day. We went and dropped her off in the morning and I felt so sorry for her, she was shaking like a leaf that I felt so bad to leave her.

When we went to pick her up this morning they told us that we should have her wear this collar so she doesn't pick out her stitches and my kids are saying that she looks like a big flower. LOL!

I am so happy to not have to worry about her anymore and will be even happier when the stitches are out and things are back to normal. But for now we have a BIG FLOWER in our home.

YESTERDAY!

One of the things my kids love to do is to bring me flowers. Those flowers may range from weeds to any other flower looking thing they may find. I always thank them and and try to appear like I actually LOVE the wonderful treasures as much as they do, but most of the time it is more about loving the child and their wonderful thoughtfulness. This time however it was a flower that I have been admiring afar for a long time and they surprised me yesterday with this flower. I think these flowers are so beautiful, but they belong in the water and I do love to admire the flowers in their own places, they make God's world so much more pleasant and wonderful, and my children decided to bring some of his masterpieces into our home, so now we have four of these wonderul flowers gracing our kitchen.

To say I don't appreciate these beautiful gifts and the thought behind them is not even close to true, but in my minds eye the fear of them actually going to the lake (without me knowing it) and having to step into the water, (OK, my overly careful mind can conjur all kinds of things, not the least which is alligators), but everything is o.k. and after explaining to them the dangers of venturing out without permission and supervision hopefully they will never venture out like that again. I am thankful that at least they didn't take the baby with them.

I also wanted to add this photo to the photo contest at 5 Minutes for Moms. Living in Florida it seems that our most beautiful flowering time of the year is in the winter, but there are a few hardy flowers that happen to bloom and look so elegant in the hot scorching summer months, and this is one of them. Hope you enjoy it as much as I am. What would I do with the $500.00 prize. I would spend it for the two birthdays that I have coming up. With two parties at the end of the month I am sure it would help make them special. My baby will be two and my baby boy will turn 6, so a shopping I will go. You can check out the contest here: http://www.5minutesformom.com/3898/win-500-in-our-summer-fun-photo-contest

Fun In The Sun!

Saturday was a lot of fun for the kids. It was their cousins birthday party and they had rented a HUGE water slide. Between the trampolin, the water slide, and the pool they were outside in the sun all day, and came home with red noses and rosie cheeks. They next day they all woke up aching from all the climbing on the slide, but what a fun day it had been. Here are some pics.

Artistic Expressions!

Today we decided to take a journey into the world of painting. Each of the kids (except the baby who was napping) got to paint something. Here are some pics with them and their creations. Jonathan wanted to have lines on his coconut, and tried so hard to make the look right, I guess it is hard when you don't have the right paintbrushes as he wanted one that was very tiny and all we had were the bigger ones.



Here is Ashley with her sandals they just had to be purple, and she used all the purple because she also had to paint the backs of them, I guess this can show how much she likes to decorate and make sure things are just so. One of her favorite jobs is to be given a job of organizing or decorating, she just needs to work on the cleaning part, that could go by forever without being touched. HE HE!

And then there is Erik. He painted his sailboat and was so proud of it, it was just the best, the star just had to be yellow and he informed Jacob that you could not paint a star blue, but Jacob being so much of his own person, painted his boat using a complete different set of colors and it came out beautifully even if he didn't paint his star yellow. Now they will each have something to set on their nightstands they painted by themselves.

Florida Blessings!

I found this on the Sunday Funnies and thought it was too funny to pass up...

YOU KNOW YOU ARE IN FLORIDA IN JULY WHEN...

~ The birds have to use potholders to pull worms out of the ground.
~ The trees are whistling for the dogs.
~ The best parking place is determined by shade instead of distance.
~ Hot water now comes out of both taps.
~ You can make sun tea instantly.
~ You learn that a seat belt buckle makes a pretty good branding iron.
~ The temperature drops below 95 and you feel a little chilly.
~ You discover that in July it only takes 2 fingers to steer your car.
~ You discover that you can get sunburned through your car window.
~ You actually burn your hand opening the car door.
~ You break into a sweat the instant you step outside at 7:30 a.m.
~ Your biggest bicycle wreck fear is, "What if I get knocked out and end up lying on the pavement and cook to death?"
~ You realize that asphalt has a liquid state.
~ The potatoes cook underground, so all you have to do is pull one out and add butter, salt and pepper.
~ Farmers are feeding their chickens crushed ice to keep them from laying boiled eggs.
~ The cows are giving evaporated milk.

Erik's Party!

Here are all the kids singing Happy Birthday to him! Today we had Erik's Birthday Party, he will be 7 tomorrow, and he was so excited. We had 21 kids come all together, and it was really fun. It is amazing what a good time they had together. I am so happy so many of the kids from his class could come, it made it really special.
Now, I have to say that I learned on thing from this party and that is that I will NEVER be a professional cake decorator. I decided to try my hand at decorating my own cake for his party, and it was a disaster. I actually ended up running to Wal-Mart at 10:30 last night and buying a cake so we would have a cake for today. I was happy with my cupcakes though, I like they way they turned out.

This Looks Like Fun!

This looks like a lot of fun, and brought a smile to my face when I read it. I found in on one of my favorite blogs. Mocha With Linda, thought I would try it...

1. Where is your cell phone? Hmmm.
2. Your significant other? Husband
3. Your hair? Brown
4. Your mother? Mom
5. Your father?Far
6. Your favorite thing? Hobbies
7. Your dream last night? Forgotten
8. Your favorite drink? Lemonade
9. Your dream/goal? Christlike
10. The room you’re in? Dining Room
11. Your church? Ministry
12. Your fear? Loss
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Family
14. Where were you last night? Home
15. What you’re not? Perfect
16. Muffins? Mmmm!
17. One of your wish list items? Millionare
18. Where you grew up? Ohio
19. The last thing you did? Sleep
20. What are you wearing? Glasses
21. Your TV? Off
22. Your pets? None
23. Your computer? Close
24. Your life? Blessed
25. Your mood? Tired
26. Missing someone? Friend
27. Your car? SUV
28. Something you’re not wearing? Shoes
29. Favorite store? Target
30. Your summer? Busy
31. Like(love) someone? Family
32. Your favorite color?Alot
33. Last time you laughed? Today
34. Last time you cried? Unsure
35. Who will repost this? You?!

I have to agree with Linda, some of these were difficult, but it definitly made me think. Thanks Linda for the challenge! If you would like to play along please leave a comment here so I can come enjoy yours also.

What a weekend!

Well, the weekend has come and gone, and all those wonderful things I had planned for the weekend didn't happen. I wanted to clean the garage, which is a complete disaster area right now, and only got about half finished as there were so many interferances mostly by the by the names of Erik, Jacob, and Alexa. I did get a lot of boxes emptied and finally they will disappear from the inventory in the garage.

We had plans to take the kids on a long bike ride as they recently got new bikes, but the weather didn't cooperate. It began to rain not long after we finished lunch and we had severe thunderstorm/tornado warnings up until time to leave for church. So much for the long bike ride and the use of long stored energy that the two younger boys keep letting me know they have. With the constant sounds of sirens, jumping, and sneaking the bikes into the house for those "bike rides" it can be quite the crazy moments in this house.

The week has begun, and band camp has started for Ashley. She is so excited as she has been looking forward to this day for a long time. Hope she has fun. Jonathan is over at his best friends house for the morning so it is just me and the three little ones. Wonder what I can get finished this morning.

Sketch Challenge!

Today is the Sketch Challenge on Splitcoast Stampers, and I decided to combine the Sketch Challenge and the Color Challenge. I used Big Bold Birthday for this card, and cut some vellum to use for the bottoms of the cupcakes. I also decided to cuttlebug the Kraft bg. I really like this card, it will be a fun birthday card to give out.

A Day At The Park!

Today we decided to go to the park. It was a fun trip, and the kids were so excited. I took my cameral planning to take a lot of pics, but didn't really get to take to many. Here are a couple that I took of Alexa peeking from one of the holes by the slide. We really liked this park, and are planning to go back again.

After being home all week, we needed to get out and do something fun, so we went out for lunch, and then we went to Constitution Park in Tequesta. This is a really neat park, and the playground for the older kids is 3 stories high. It has rock climbing walls, and ropes to climb. Long slides and lots of different things to do. Even the big kids had a blast and were disappointed that we couldn't stay longer.

As you can see from these pictures, it had been raining, but it was a blessing, as it has been so hot here, and it really cooled it down. We were able to be there without sweltering.

Sketch Challenge~

Today is the Sketch Challenge on Splitcoast, and this is the card I made. I used Basic Grey paper, and the stamp I used was from Papertrey Ink. Sorry the colors faded a little when I took the photo. If you would like to check out the challenge you can click on the link under Check These Out!